KOLKATA: Industrial and logistics real estate transactions in West Bengal surged over the past year and a half as companies led by ecommerce giants Flipkart and Amazon along with Asian Paints, Ranbaxy and Blue Dart snapped up warehousing space.

“Total warehouse space absorbed in the last one year was close to 1.5 million square feet against 1 million sq. ft. in 2014,” said Rahul Baid, head of corporate transactions at Champalall & Co., a Kolkata-based real estate company.

The largest deal was by Flipkart, India’s biggest ecommerce company, at Dankuni. “Our 150,000 sq. ft.-plus capacity warehouse in the east…improves our ability to deliver goods within a day in a very strategic market, that is also growing rather swiftly,” said a spokesperson of EKart, Flipkart’s logistics arm.

Amazon India set up its first fulfillment centre in the region, spread over 83,000 sq. ft. at Srirampore in Hooghly district in October to cater to the entire eastern region. Over 100 sellers from across the country have registered at this warehouse.

Gojavas, the logistics arm of Snapdeal, has taken up pockets of warehousing space of about 35,000 sq. ft. spread across depots in the city, including central locations such as AJC Bose Road.

“Most of these warehouse transactions have been happening in areas like Bombay Road, Budge Budge, Dankuni, BT Road as companies are catering to the northeastern states and also South Asian countries through Bengal,” Baid said.

“Warehousing is expected to grow around 15%-20% annually considering the macroeconomic scenario continues to grow and the ecommerce business continues to expand,” said Abhijit Das, director (east) at Cushman & Wakefield.

Currently, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is levied at 12 per cent on payments made for under-construction property or ready-to-move-in flats where completion certificate has not been issued at the time of sale.